Instruments for measuring incidents related to patient safety in the context of paediatric intensive care—protocol for a scoping review

BACKGROUND: Patient safety is a fundamental principle of health care but is one of the biggest challenges currently faced and a serious public health problem, since the occurrence of adverse events is probably one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The vulnerability of the paediatric population, combined with the potentially dangerous context of intensive care, makes Paediatric Intensive Care Units services of particular complexity in matters of safety, where there is a greater likelihood of incidents with serious consequences. It is agreed that research on the topic of PS should start with the measuring of different types of harm that exist in the contexts, to identify high-risk areas and define priorities. For this, it is necessary to resort to a multiplicity of valid, reliable and specific measurement instruments and to learn their advantages and limitations. The objective of this review will be to identify and map in scientific literature the instruments for measuring incidents related to patient safety applicable in the context of paediatric intensive care. METHODS: This review will cover studies and documents that refer to all measurement instruments used in the field of patient safety in a context of paediatric intensive care. Quantitative, qualitative, or mixed nature published studies, as well as grey literature, produced in the last 5 years and relevant to the topic will be included, in Portuguese, English or Spanish languages. The sources of information include several databases (such as MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, JBI Databases) and sources relevant to grey literature. Two reviewers will independently screen all citations, full-text articles and abstract data. The extracted data, after being organised in the extraction table, will be mapped in a descriptive and logical way, taking into account the defined review questions. DISCUSSION: The mapping of the tools in these protocols will allow to summarise the most widely used instruments, to know their specificities and to guide researchers to use the most appropriate measurement tools for their context, specifically, in paediatric intensive care. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: Open Science Framework (osf.io/b5m7j). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13643-022-01888-6.